whenever i am at the arts alliance to monitor the gallery, i usually spend my time on the beautiful iMac in the office. i have never been a "web surfer", spending hours on the internet. when i do find the time, i am often at a loss of what to look for, so i do the last thing that an undergrad does during the summer.

i start looking up graduate programs.

NYU has this great program for art administration and sounds like my cup of tea. however, it suggested a "strong background in art history". i assume they imply a major in art history...which i will not have. i was a little heartbroken.

today at work i was talking about my dilemma with my co-workers (camp counselors) and it led to a discussion about majors in general. "the colonel" wondered what one could do with a major in art history. "jail bait school boy" answered 'to be a snob'.

at first i was a little appalled, and then i realized the culture differences between new york and well, the rest of the country. one of the issues i have with coming home has been the attitude of the average citizen of my small town. most go to college here in order to stick around with the friends they made in high school, marry some one they meet in college. settle down, start working, have kids, and the cycle repeats itself. it seems like only in new york (and probably other metropolitan cities) the family and home and friends are last priorities compared to having a career, being success, and living up to the cultured norm. a degree in art history is interesting and respected in a metropolitan area. in small town america...or just maybe my small town, a degree an art history gets you laughed at.

but that is besides the point.

i also realized that i could finally identify a previously unnamed conflict i had when first starting school. a majority of the people i met and the friends i made in ny would be regarded as snobbish and pretentious to the people i know from home. the norm at home believe in doing what is practical. somehow i have gotten myself associated with people who insist that the luxuries of life are worth having and sacrificing that is preposterous. some at school have had more experience in seeing the world and understanding the luxury of culture than my friends from home could ever dream of. maybe that is the point, that to be cultured is a luxury.

it seems often enough to be true that an appreciation for art and culture goes along with status and wealth. i could only hope that it would not be so, that art is something that should be appreciated by all. In this modern age, above anything else, culture had become the voice of the masses. the majority of the masses are not the select and privileged view.

the united states is criticized for lacking culture compared to Europe. the best way to promote the arts is with an understanding of the average patron of our society.

therefore.....i think NYU should let me in to the visual arts administration program without needing a silly art history major.

the end

oh...pitchfork in 2 weeks!

good golly miss molly

gah!!!!
i have had a fondness for reading andy warhol biographies for the past year. i have this weird fascination with his celebrity and how his lifestyle progressed into it's own kind of art form. in the past year i have always had a little shock whenever i saw an original at the moma or met.

lo and behold, while checking my e-mail...i come across this lil headline :

Hofstra University Museum Receives Unprecedented Gift of Andy Warhol Art

oh yes, IT IS TRUE

Today's press release from University Relations says the Hofstra University Museum received "an unprecedented gift of Andy Warhol art from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. The gift, made through the Andy Warhol Photographic Legacy Program is in honor of the foundation’s 20th anniversary. The Museum will take ownership of its gift of 103 Polacolor prints and 50 Black and White Gelatin Silver Prints valued at $150,300 at the beginning of July. The Hofstra University Museum is one of 183 college and university art museums that will receive some of the 28,543 original Warhol photographs valued in excess of $28 million. Each institution is slated to receive approximately 150 original Polaroid photographs and gelatin silver prints selected by Jenny Moore, curator of the Photographic Legacy Program."

here's the link for the entire press release from the Hofstra University website

home again

i came home for the summer in order to save money for studying abroad next year. while my fellow pr peers have big fancy schmancy internships in huge metropolitan cities, i work at a day camp talking to nine year olds about iron maiden. at least i technically have a title: "arts and crafts director". yes parents - i am the one your 4 year old refers to as "the art lady". i can think of at least twenty creative things to do with leaves alone. it's an easy enough job - one week down and i'm all the rage in the parks and rec department of my hometown.

i'm also kinda interning kinda volunteering at this non-profit arts organization in my town. they have their main gallery, the shop, a million art classes and various different events throughout the summer. my boss is a little scatterbrained - sometimes i have to remind her about the full page resume i gave her in may that sats, yes, i'm an art minor and yes, i do have pr experience (granted, one course and one year in PRSSA isn't that legitimate but something is better than nothing). however, how can you not love the free spirited graphic designer turned art advocate/official muralist of my town with "Bleecker Street: Greenwich Village of the '60's" (contemporary covers of folk music) in her gallery who also gives great advice on how best to utilize oil pastels?

one of my best friends, gallo, is spending his summer at his school in Virginia, having a glorious old time while leaving me slightly stranded here. i gave him my "best american short stories of 2005" to remember me by (which isn't actually mine - it was a loan from a guy i dated last year. whoops) elizabeth sold her soul to nannying for this 10 and 12 year old who could def take care of themselves and mike is galivanting throughout the area being the stud that works at Dick's Sporting Goods and dates girls from jersey. that leaves me trying to awkwardly reconnect with friends from high school and hang out with my fellow day camp counselors outside of work trying to not talk about camp.

there are the comforts of home to consider though such as the family and sleeping in the room i've had since i was born (not to mention i finally have my turntable set up. my proudest purchases as of far have been neutral milk hotel's "aeroplane over the sea" and the live recording of orson welles' "war of the worlds" from 1938)

i can't complain and home has been splendid - but i'm still biding my time until i get back to new york.

oh - and pitchfork in chicago will be glorious as well.

the pile of newspapers in my dorm room measures about 3 and a half feet high

I was in painting this morning and a girl was playing music off of her computer (the thing was minuscule, it was literally half the size of my laptop!!!) and she was claiming to be playing an Eric Clapton mix. Without any preparation or warning, "Lady in Red" starts playing and I wonder what sort of mood this girl was trying to create at 9:30am on a Monday morning. When hearing the song, everyone remembered the Smart Ones commercial from a few years back with a woman dancing around in a red dress. Honestly, I had no idea that Clapton is responsible. Oh, how I was ashamed of the amount of tv I watched as a kid (too much).

My pet peeve is when commercials on tv somehow sneakily have the ability to use music I adore. This past year along, I have heard Fiest, Apples in Stereo, Arcade Fire, Band of Horses, The Rapture, and I think Devotchka more often on tv than my own ipod. I know the origins of the music, but what happens in a few years when our children are talking about how that funeral song they guess was by Band of Horses just makes them recall a girl staring out of the moon roof of a Ford Edge 2008.



Music is created, ideally, to help evoke some sort of emotion or progressive insight, not to help recall advertisements for luxuries like cars, cell phones, and diamond necklaces your husband lays on your neck while you're sleeping (what if she didn't wake up and instead rolled over and broke it?).

perez is not my homeboy

i didn't think this would happen
but in response to a week's worth of information overload about how technology is constantly changing and how we need to keep up with it...somehow I, a somewhat non-technological, incapable traditionalist, have made a blog.

because when I think of blogs, I think of Perez Hilton...I hope to not go down that road...

Steve Rubel from Edelman Group spoke at Hofstra University last Wednesday to inform PR and Journalism majors alike about new media and how basically it is an unstoppable force we cannot control, but can utilize for our own benefit.

it scares me to imagine a future where people are more isolated than they already are and real personal contact is limited. I was reassured when Rubel stated that in order to reach consumers, business organizations must create relationships with their consumers. A collaboration between customers and businesses will generate the most success overall.

But still, I have always preferred interacting with people one on one and researching information independently. However, I realized that I must be more humble and come to the understanding that you have to keep up with what is already happening. My personal quest to bring about a society that values art, literature, music, and culture is not going to be successful until I adopt the habits and skills as my fellow consumers and peers. Which includes learning to appreciate blogs and those who read them.

On a personal level, my brain is fried. I spent about three hours in Calkins studio painting while listening to the new Devotchka album (thanks maggie), then I had to find the motivation to make this silly thing while waiting for my infinite amount of clothing to be washed. I'm going to attempt the crazy idea to sleep for three hours - the supposedly perfect amount in order to not be a zombie the next day. Which means if I sleep for three hours now...I'll be up before the sun still.

Tomorrow morning is more painting, reading Gargantua and Pantagruel by Francois Rabelais before class, and attempting once again to actually read the paper on a Monday.